Advice for a new handgun deer hunter?

S

Smaug

New member
Trying to tap into the collective knowledge here.

I'm going deer hunting for the first time this year. It will be on public land, with my scoped Ruger Redhawk.

I'll probably camp, I've got a good tent, and will have a good sleeping bag. I'll have my trajectories memorized out to 150 yds, just in case I get a good braced shot opportunity.

When I get the gun back from Ruger, (the barrel broke) I plan to zero at 25 yds. then confirm at 100 and 50 yds.

I've got the blaze orange vest & hat, warm boots, jacket, and gloves.

The land I got the permit for is 3-1/2 hours away, so scouting is kind of out of the question.

I'm going into this with the attitude that I want to learn a lot this year. If I get skunked, I won't be too disappointed as long as I learn from it. I don't have a tree stand, I just intend to stalk around at likely areas starting at pre-dawn and ending early morning, then again in late afternoon to nightfall.

I plan to use my own handloads, to consist of 240 gr. semi-jacketed hollow point bullets over a max Lyman book charge of H110. (anyone know the trajectory for this load?)

Accuracy check question: Will my practice bullets, Ranier plated 240 gr. plated flat point have about the same trajectory as the above mentioned HPs?

I don't have a truck. Just the family hatchback. (Toyota Matrix) I'm thinking that if I do get a deer, I could drag it to the car, and load it in the back with the back seats folded down. Maybe put a tarp down so it doesn't blood-stain the interior and tick off the wife. Is that realistic or should I plan on tying it to the roof? I guess there are flea and tick issues, since we have a dog.

I'm sure there are a ton of you out there who went out in the past just like me: wet-behind-the-ears and learned a lot. What can you pass onto me to help me get the best odds of success?

Other Illinoisans, any state-specific tips to offer me?
 
I plan to use my own handloads, to consist of 240 gr. semi-jacketed hollow point bullets over a max Lyman book charge of H110. (anyone know the trajectory for this load?)

Accuracy check question: Will my practice bullets, Ranier plated 240 gr. plated flat point have about the same trajectory as the above mentioned HPs?
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A few things that I've found handloading even though I don't load for a pistol so take it for what its worth.

1. Max loads rarely group well enough for me to want to use them for hunting. Approach all Max loads with caution, what may have been safe in another firearm may not work in mine. Accuracy kills better than max power any day.

2. Practice with the same bullets that you are going to hunt with. Bullets of different design and maker rarely have the same point of impact. Now you can practice with a cheaper bullet yes, but you will need to confirm zero every time you change powders or bullets.

3. Trajectories of each load you will need a chronograph to figure it out without shooting at the ranges you mentioned. Without knowing the MV of a given load you can't plug it into a ballistics calculator to come up with what you are asking for. Without a chrony you will have to shoot groups at all the ranges and write down the trajectory in a book. Shooting at those ranges will better prepare you for the hunt.
 
You hunting with the same gun that broke? If so, I would not use max loads until you get used to shooting it. More thoughts later.
 
I used a pair of S&W M629 Classics in .44 Mag with 6.5" barrels and 2X EER Leupold scopes for hunting deer and hogs (NOT BEAR, sorry for the error) during the last few years. Killed two deer and two hogs. My advice is to NOT zero at 25 yds. I zeroed at 70-75 yds with 240 gr Nosler HP jacketed or 250 gr H&G LSWC bullets, each loaded to 1400 fps thru Oehler chronograph. Trajectories were so close that I just lumped them together as:
muzzle -1.5"
25 yds +0.2"
50 yds +0.8"
75 yds 0
100 yds - 4"

Out to 75 yds I just held dead on. Nearing 100 yds I began holding over slightly for the drop.
 
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air mattress. I hunted out of a 1978 Datsun 510 & a 1982 Cavalier. I used to tie the deer to the roof & pack the cavity with ice on one occassion I even boned out the deer and iced the meat in a cooler. Also make a couple of phone calls and arrange for a cooler to hold your deer til you are ready to hit the dusty trail. Down south it will more than likely be warm first season. To warm to hang your deer at camp. 40 degrees maximum for hanging temp.
Where are you heading? I hunted Williamson for several years before we had many deer in my area.
Feel free to email or PM me.
 
I would try not to have the deer inside. Tie it to the hood, roof, or back of the vehicle. But if you have to, you have to.
 
Have fun, You'll be hooked

My biggest advice is to know your limits on accuracy - Remember, what you can do on a range does not have deer fever calculated into it. Everyone experiences this to a different degree, but I would half the range you normally shoot when hunting. For me, I wont shoot longer than 75 yards at a deer with my hand gun. Here's a pic from 2 years ago:

November_200623.jpg
 
Purely opinion, but I won't take a shot with pistol or rifle at any distance beyond where I can reliably figure on hitting the end of a beer can. That varies with whatever field rest is available, and with what the little voices in my head are telling me at the time. :) A Zen sort of thing, I guess.

You can indeed wind up with a car full of deer ticks. Depends on the length of time between killing and loading, as well as the day's temperature. As the carcass cools, the ticks abandon ship.
 
Art is a very conservative hunter I see! I personally will sometimes push my luck out to a pie tin size with the 12 ga slugs. And a pie plate with the rifle. Where I am VERY conservative is where I picture that pie tin/plate size image on the animal. I may allow POI a bit rearward if deer is quartering away so the projectile is going to enter the kill zone after impact.
I really suggest a person spend as much class room time learning the physical biology of their quarry. Heart and other organs are in different spots with each animal specie. Can't tell you how many deer hunters wound hogs and never see them again by trying to use their deer vital zone on a hog.
Brent
 
The land I got the permit for is 3-1/2 hours away, so scouting is kind of out of the question.
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That's your biggest problem (I have it, too!). You should scout that area before the first day of the season. In fact, you ought to scout it a couple of times (if there's time yet to do that). Knowing where the deer like to come out for breakfast/dinner is very important.

Personally, I'd use a rifle for my first hunt, but I suppose that's just personal preference. You'll understand what I mean when you first experience the fever.

If you can't borrow a truck on that day, you'll have to use the hatchback. But there's gonna be blood (because you'll gut it before you load it), so you'd better worry about containing it somehow so that it doesn't leak all over everywhere. I'd worry more about the blood than about ticks and other stuff.

Speaking of gutting, have you ever seen it done in person? If not, I'd suggest that you go with a hunter who has gutted a deer before. Yes, it is a lot harder than it looks on the internet. For example, how do you propose to deal with the pelvic bone (a/k/a h-bone)?

Get ready to have fun, and be safe! Practice with that handgun, and for goodness sakes, use some kind of rest when taking the shot. Like I said, you'll understand when you get the fever! :D

Edited to add:

I just intend to stalk around at likely areas starting at pre-dawn and ending early morning, then again in late afternoon to nightfall.
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I hope that you mean that you intend to find a good spot with some cover, sitting down, and staying very still. Because if you mean that you intend to try and sneak up on deer, they will hear/see/smell you a mile away, and you'll probably never even see one. JMHO, and sorry about all of the advice. This is why scouting is so important, so you know where the deer like to gather or travel, and you can sit quietly and get one when they show up.
 
Art is a very conservative hunter I see! I personally will sometimes push my luck out to a pie tin size with the 12 ga slugs. And a pie plate with the rifle.
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I wouldn't say he's very conservative, I'd say he's ethical. A pie tin is NOT acceptable on a deer.
 
I think the shoulder of a white tail deer is about the same size as a pie tin... The vital zone is about the same. I don't care to trail wounded animals and the only thing I have had to track or shoot a second time in 35 years is a hand ful of rabbits and a dozen or so squirrels. Most of the wounded squirrels were pellet rifle shot. Any of my large game kills have been DRT or just made forward motion by momentum alone. I have a few clean missed shots when I was younger.
I am far from unethical personally. I am also a compassionate killer hating to see a suffering animal no matter how lowly it may be.
Brent
 
Field dressing is not hard. You just dig in and do it. The pelvic bone is not a problem if you have a sharp knife. At worst, you can tap the knife with a rock to drive it through the bone to pull out the last bit of "stuff". It is nice to have some water nearby to wash blood and stuff off your hands and arms when you are done. A puddle will do. Figure on taking your hunting coat/jacket off and doing it in a tea shirt unless it is really cold. Stuff will get bloody otherwise.

I consider 6" pie plate accuracy acceptable with a handgun no matter what range you're talking about.
 
If I could offer just one handgun hinting tip, it would be to wait for a broad-side shot presentation.

I shot a Doe one year at 60 yards, TC Contender, .44 Mag, 14" barrel, iron sights. She was quartering toward me and I put one too far back in the rib cage........it was a L-O-N-G night of blood trailing.
 
the maximum range is that which you can keep ...

a cylinder load of shot into a picnic plate.
If you haven't been practicing since August then DON'T use a handgun.

It takes commiment, no matter what scope you have.
 
Handgun hunting (only) since 1986. Kills from 7 yards to 103 yards (measured). The best advice is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. If you don't get enough you're gonna flinch... and then miss or worse yet wound one. My practice range is set up for 70 yards and I am in that "6" pie plate" consistantly without a scope. I use a red dot Bushnell Halo sight (no magnification); shoot with both eyes open and it's awesome in low light when MANY deer are shot. Practice does have it's rewards...
 

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I have hit bullseye on paper at 100 yds with a .460 repeatedly, no problem. BUT I have choked on 2 occassions from much closer than that in the field on live animals!
 
One thing every bowhunter knows, but a lot of gun hunters don't... If you shoot a deer and think it's a bad shot, wait more than a few hours to go and track it unless it's really hot out--then just give it 2 hours or so. A wounded deer will either run for miles if you keep following it, or lie down and bleed out pretty near if you're not.
 
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